In Memory Of
Robert Lynn Carl
1943
2023
Robert Lynn Carl
June 5, 1943 — February 6, 2023
Robert "Bob" Carl, a Vietnam veteran and entrepreneur who could strike up a conversation with anyone and make a lifelong friend in a matter of seconds, died on Monday, Feb. 6, after a long battle with Alzheimer's. He was 79.
Bob was born on July 5, 1943, in Mountain Home, Idaho, to Marjorie and Grayson Carl. He broke his mother's tailbone during birth, proving what Marjorie joked was his lifelong talent for being a pain in the backside.
After an early childhood spent traveling from town to town across the West, Bob and his family settled near Onaga, Kansas.
He was a natural athlete, playing quarterback on the football team in high school and eventually being named to the school's Hall of Fame, along with the rest of his team, in 2018.
After he graduated from high school in 1961, he enlisted in the Navy and spent much of the lead up to the Vietnam War stationed on an aircraft carrier and exploring Asia. A few years after joining the Navy, he was stationed in Hawaii, where he learned to surf and race his MG convertible.
After he left the Navy, he returned home to Onaga, Kansas, where he married Lillian Kay Teske in 1967. He worked as a manager at Red Lobster and then Shakey's Pizza Parlor in Iowa before moving his young family to Lawrence, Kansas, in 1975, when he bought a Kwik Shop franchise on 23rd Street.
Bob and Kay eventually divorced, and he married Sue Liby in Hawaii in 1985 and became a stepfather to Raven Liby.
Bob and Sue sold the Kwik Shop in 1995 to focus on their fence company. They then sold that a few years later, packed everything into a recreational vehicle and traveled around the United States, eventually buying a home at the base of Superstition Mountain, in Gold Canyon, Arizona.
He spent much of his retirement playing golf, visiting his daughters and grandchildren, and riding his Harley motorcycle around the United States.
In 2016, he moved to the Sunflower Memory Center, at the VA Hospital in Topeka, Kansas. Despite struggling with Alzheimer's, he enjoyed delivering donated flowers, working in the garden and visiting with veterans. He also enjoyed visiting and joking with the wonderful caretakers that took amazing care of him the last several years of his life and during his death.
He is survived by his two daughters, Tonya Mater and Traci Carl; his sons-in-law, Eric Mater and Jorge Melchor; his step-daughter, Raven Nicole Rachal; six granddaughters, Lucy, 16, Sydney, 13, and Matilda Mater, 9, and Elly, 16, and Kyra Melchor, 13; and two step-grandsons, Gavin James Vantuyl, 14, and Jorden Brett Vantuyl, 10. He is preceded in death by his parents and his older brother, Kenneth Carl.
Donations can be made to the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 200 First Street S.W., Rochester, MN 55905. A celebration of life will be held in July, and he will be buried in Onaga, Kansas, next to his mother and father.
Dove Cremations and Funerals Southwest Chapel is assisting the family.
To leave a message of condolence for Bob's family, or to share a special memory of Bob, please visit the guestbook below.
Bob was born on July 5, 1943, in Mountain Home, Idaho, to Marjorie and Grayson Carl. He broke his mother's tailbone during birth, proving what Marjorie joked was his lifelong talent for being a pain in the backside.
After an early childhood spent traveling from town to town across the West, Bob and his family settled near Onaga, Kansas.
He was a natural athlete, playing quarterback on the football team in high school and eventually being named to the school's Hall of Fame, along with the rest of his team, in 2018.
After he graduated from high school in 1961, he enlisted in the Navy and spent much of the lead up to the Vietnam War stationed on an aircraft carrier and exploring Asia. A few years after joining the Navy, he was stationed in Hawaii, where he learned to surf and race his MG convertible.
After he left the Navy, he returned home to Onaga, Kansas, where he married Lillian Kay Teske in 1967. He worked as a manager at Red Lobster and then Shakey's Pizza Parlor in Iowa before moving his young family to Lawrence, Kansas, in 1975, when he bought a Kwik Shop franchise on 23rd Street.
Bob and Kay eventually divorced, and he married Sue Liby in Hawaii in 1985 and became a stepfather to Raven Liby.
Bob and Sue sold the Kwik Shop in 1995 to focus on their fence company. They then sold that a few years later, packed everything into a recreational vehicle and traveled around the United States, eventually buying a home at the base of Superstition Mountain, in Gold Canyon, Arizona.
He spent much of his retirement playing golf, visiting his daughters and grandchildren, and riding his Harley motorcycle around the United States.
In 2016, he moved to the Sunflower Memory Center, at the VA Hospital in Topeka, Kansas. Despite struggling with Alzheimer's, he enjoyed delivering donated flowers, working in the garden and visiting with veterans. He also enjoyed visiting and joking with the wonderful caretakers that took amazing care of him the last several years of his life and during his death.
He is survived by his two daughters, Tonya Mater and Traci Carl; his sons-in-law, Eric Mater and Jorge Melchor; his step-daughter, Raven Nicole Rachal; six granddaughters, Lucy, 16, Sydney, 13, and Matilda Mater, 9, and Elly, 16, and Kyra Melchor, 13; and two step-grandsons, Gavin James Vantuyl, 14, and Jorden Brett Vantuyl, 10. He is preceded in death by his parents and his older brother, Kenneth Carl.
Donations can be made to the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 200 First Street S.W., Rochester, MN 55905. A celebration of life will be held in July, and he will be buried in Onaga, Kansas, next to his mother and father.
Dove Cremations and Funerals Southwest Chapel is assisting the family.
To leave a message of condolence for Bob's family, or to share a special memory of Bob, please visit the guestbook below.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Robert Lynn Carl, please visit our flower store.
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